No One Has To Know

Chapter One

Sage's P.O.V

I run my fingers through my hair and heavily sigh. My mother always has to bring up my love life, it wouldn't irritate me as much if I actually had one. 

"Elizabeth, you're getting older and you-" I cut her off 

"I'm twenty-one and you know I hate my first name, I go by my middle name" I say calmly and here her groan through the phone 

"Why must you be so stubborn dear? You would be happier if you had a man in your life" She says and I can picture her sitting on the front porch of our cabin in the mountains drumming her freshly painted nails on the table beside her as she over looks the lake that is coated with a thin sheet of ice 

"I'm not stubborn mother. I just happen to be focused on graduating next year with my masters in nursing" I tell her and the next words unintentionally come out of my mouth before I can stop them "Maybe I'd rather just like to keep my man to myself" She gasps 

"So there is a man. You have to bring her home for the holidays this year." She uses her stern motherly tone to tell me that I have to bring this imaginary man for christmas break. Only problem is that I can't show up without someone if I don't want my parents to be super pissed with me

"I don't know mom, he goes home for the holidays" I try the easiest way out 

"Well then we'll fly the entire family out" She says with a challenging tone, she is gonna have a solution to every problem that I can come up with

"I'll have to talk to him tonight mother. I have to go, I'm due at the hospital soon" I say "Talk to you soon, Love you" I hang up before she can respond and throw my phone across the room into my moon chair

What the hell am I supposed to do now? If I tell her the truth I'll be given the cold shoulder the entire break but if I try to find a way out of it she'll figure out the truth. I know what I have to do, I have to find someone I can pay to pretend to be my boyfriend 

I stand up from my bed and walk to my closet picking out my scrubs for today. Simple black scrubs will do with my black running nikes. I take a quick shower before getting dressed and pulling my dark brown curls into a tight ponytail. I take my glasses off and put in my contacts before spraying my perfume on and grabbing my purse

When I get to the hospital I clock in and start my rounds. I work at the local hospital in the NICU. The things I have to see make it hard but I love my job. Being able to help these newborns and nursing them back to health makes me feel like I'm making a difference and making up for some of the wrongs I have done in my life 

Walking up to Isaiah's incubator I smile down at the fighter with many tubes attached to him. He was born three months premature because of his mother's substance abuse. Along with being underdeveloped he also had withdraws from the drugs his mother had been using. She was arrested after she had him and she gave us contact information for the father who flew across the country to be here for his son that he was unaware existed. 

He has had a constant battle and the doctors were sure he wouldn't make it past the first few days, he's two months now but problems just keep coming. He is doing much better apart from his heart defect that was caused by the drugs. The doctors are considering taking him out of the incubator and put him in a crib but they want to wait til his open heart surgery tomorrow

I quickly do his charts and move to the next incubator. Nevaeh's mother was sent into early labor when she was in a car accident. Her mother almost didn't survive and Nevaeh wasn't expected to survive only weighing one pound and six ounces. Her lungs weren't fully developed but she's stabilized and now weighs two pounds a month later. 

Charting everything I move to my next patient, little Carter. He's anemic and the doctors are working on getting his number of red blood cells stabilized before we can let him go home. He has apnea and will occasionally stops breathing for a moment so we have to keep him on oxygen. He has gone thirty-eight hours without an apnea spell but we can't allow him to go home until he goes a full forty-eight hours without a spell. 

Tomorrow we're going to take him off the oxygen and use caffeine and reminders to help him when he has a spell. I fill in his charts and move to Avery. She was one of three. She was born premature but the other two were fully developed and healthy. She has been here two weeks and now weighs three pounds and one ounce. She is making excellent progress and should be going home within the next few weeks one she is completely stable

I hear the alarm sound and watch as two nurses run down the hallway with a crib, they bust through the doors and start CPR and my heart sinks